MLive Detroit Extra Point

Heading into the football season, the main question mark surrounding Detroit Cass Tech was if the Technicians could cope with not having Jayru Campbell lining up at quarterback to start the season.

With sophomore Rodney Hall stepping in, it seemed like Cass Tech was going to have to rely heavily on senior running back Mike Weber to get the offense rolling this fall.

Although Weber did end up carrying Cass Tech to victory in the 27-26 win over Oak Park in Week 1, Hall did not stay in the background as some may have expected. After a shaky first half, Hall had a major hand in three scoring drives in the fourth quarter, finishing the night with 170 yards, a touchdown and an interception on 13-for-20 passing.

"I think we got a chance to put all of those doubters to rest," Cass Tech coach Tom Wilcher boasted. "He came out here and he really showed up. Everybody really wanted to see what he was really going to do. I just kept telling people, 'Just watch.'"

It took a little while for Hall to get comfortable but he did end up getting in some highlights before all was said and done.

Starting off the fourth quarter with an incomplete pass, Hall connected with wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones on a 47-yard touchdown pass two plays later that was placed beautifully to the receiver in stride.

On the next Cass Tech possession, Hall connected with Demetric Vance for a 42-yard completion that set up a two-yard touchdown run shortly after. Hall and Vance connected one more time on Cass Tech's final drive, this time for 41 yards, setting up the game winning score a couple of plays later.

It seemed like someone flipped a competitive switch for Hall. Perhaps, the scoreboard had something to do with it, as Cass Tech was down by 13 points twice in the fourth quarter.

"We knew we should have won," Hall said. "We should have been ahead early. We just had to wake up."

Wilcher preferred to use the term "let loose."

"I think the most important thing we did was, we let him loose," Wilcher said of Hall. "We didn't let him loose all the way. I just didn't want him to be let loose. But, what I've been telling everybody, we're going to have a great quarterback. We have some great quarterbacks here at Cass Tech. We've got great coaches and great things should happen here."